Saluting-Face Emoji for Unicode 14.0 Emoji Submitter: Jennifer Daniel and Shiraz Fuman to the Unicode Technical Committee Date: October 25 2019 Last updated: December 10, 2019  The following character is proposed in service of established ESC priorities around smileys to support for compatibility reasons.  

 I. Identification and Images 

Sample Image (color) 

Sample Image (bw) 

Proposed Unicode and CLDR name 

Possible CLDR English keywords 

Closest Unicode Emoji 

   

SALUTING-FACE  Salute, yes, ok, troops, sunny 

 

License We certify that the images have appropriate licenses for use by the UTC.  

III. Sort location Face-hand 

   

IV. Selection factors — Inclusion  A. Compatibility  

Yes. As documented in L2/18-258 and L2/19-085.   B. Expected use  

1. Frequency In addition to being one of Emojipedia’s top requests in 2019, usage is expected to be extremely high. The following search results indicate the function of this emoji could perform well over-median due to his high-frequency uses (See section B2-3) 

 

Search term  Google Search  Bing Search  Google Video Search 

Salute 

    

Respect 

 

 

 Above: salute | Google Trends: Image and Web 

  

 Above: Respect | Google Trends: Image and Web 

 2. Multiple usages  Functions as both affirmation and acknowledgment — two expressions that 

appear on the highest frequently expressed sentiments in digital communications.  

○ To recognize or acknowledge a message 

■ : Can you pick up the kids from school? 

: No Problem  ○ To honor or pay respect to 

■ Thank you for your service  

○ Affirmation 

■ As you wish  

○ Salute is also the Italian word for “cheers” but I don’t think that this emoji 

will be used to communicate congratulations Or, will it?  

 3. Use in sequences Can be used with non-face emoji, to indicate reactions, acknowledgement, respect, etc.  

●  

● = As you wish. 

● = Support your troops 

● (or any flag) = Respect and pride for your country or team 

● = Respect 

● = God save the Queen 

● = I can’t see you 

● (or any food) =I live for pretzels  

● = sun in my eyes 

● = Salute my shorts (camp prank) 

 Can also be used in combination with other facial expressions to indicate your respect or submission to another. 

● = Yes Chef/you’re the boss 

● You are amazing  

● I welcome our robot overlords 

● Night shift 

● Morning shift  

4. Breaking new ground  Because it is an established representation of a common expression, SALUTE EMOJI is more likely to convey meaning to the broadest possible range of emoji users. In addition to saluting, this emoji also fills an important gap in existing face options and allows the user to express respect, affirmation, and in some contexts that annoying feeling when the sun is in their eyes or when you're looking for someone.  A recent paper proposes that the popularity of faces and hands is because emoji have a similar role in written communication as gesture does in spoken communication (Gawne & McCulloch 2019) so continuing to fill in the set of common metaphorical feelings represented as emoji is sensible from both a theoretical and a practical, usage-based perspective.   

 C. Image distinctiveness  

Yes.  D. Completeness  

There is only one emoji that conveys the concept of showing respect . However, since this particular behavior is regionally specific there is great value in adding a salute emoji for cultures where bowing is less common.  It's worth noting, there are hundred of kamojis representing this expression, a possible indication of its usefulness, demand, and value add to a bowing expression m(_ _)m.  

 

('-'*ゞ  (-ω-ゞ   (｀∇´ゞ   (´∀｀ゞ   (≧∀≦ゞ 

(￣ー￣)ゞ  (‘-‘*ゞ   (^-^)ゝ  (`Д´)ゞ   

(〃･‿･)ゞ  (`･ω･´)ゞ  (〃･‿･)ゞ  (｀д´)ゝ  (￣^￣)ゞ  く(＠Д＠)  (-ω-)ゝ  ∠(^ー^)  (゜◇゜)ゞ 

（’◇’）ゞ  (≧∀≦)ゞ  (≧ω≦)ゞ  (＞ロ＜)ゝ  (‘∀`)ゞ  (￣▽￣)ゞ  (^-^)ゝ  ヽ(•ω• )ゝ  ヽ|･◇･|ゞ 

 III. Selection factors — Exclusion 

F. Overly specific No. This design is iconic of showing respect in both a formal and earnest manner or informal and sarcastic manner.  

G. Open-ended  No, this is not part of a set of similar items. 

 H. Already representable 

No.  I. Logos, brands, UI icons, signage, specific people, deities 

Not applicable. There are no logos, brands, signage or otherwise among the proposed characters. 

 J. Transient 

Not applicable.  K. Faulty comparison  

Justification for encoding the proposed emoji does not depend on analogy with other emoji that were encoded only for compatibility reasons.  

L. Exact Images An exact image is not required. However, it is worth noting there are a number of ways to salute around the world. This design opted for one that maximizes the emoji’s utility (sun in eyes, where are you/looking for something, AND salute) since the other salutes are singular in nature.

 Above: Personnel from the Royal Air Force, the British Army and the Royal Navy saluting.